1 4 HOTHOUSE DESTRUCTION OF INSECTS. [JANUARY. 



mosphere, and its havoc generally is obvious before it 

 is arrested. With its proboscis, it wounds the fine ca- 

 pillary vessels; and if the leaves are fine, they will ap- 

 pear as if probed with a needle, and yellowish around 

 the wound. If they have farther progressed in their 

 destructive work, the leaves will prematurely decay. 

 On this appearance, turn up the leaf, and you will see 

 them running about with incredible swiftness. Their 

 body is of a blood colour, and their feet, eight in 

 number, light red. When very numerous, they work 

 thick webs on the under side of the leaf, and fre- 

 quently all over it, forming a mass of half dead 

 plants, decayed leaves, and thousands of spiders. 

 The most effectual remedy is a thorough syring- 

 ing with water, and profusely under the foliage. This 

 being done every evening, will subdue and eventually 

 banish them. Had the house been syringed two or 

 three times per week, these intruders would not have 

 appeared. It is said by some writers, that watering 

 only reduces them to a temporary state of inaction, 

 and will not destroy them. Laying aside the many 

 prescribed nostrums, we assert that the pure element 

 is the most effectual cure, as well as the most easy 

 to be obtained. 



Thrips, order Hemiptera, are insects so minute as 

 scarcely to be perceptible to the naked eye. They 

 generally lurk close to the veins of the leaves of plants, 

 and frequently attack esculents. When viewed through 

 a glass, they are seen, when touched, to skip with 

 great agility. The larva is of a high brown, or reddish 

 colour. The thrip has four wings, and walks with its 



